Dora Links Doll – A Gadget for Girls

When my daughter was younger, she owned Gameboys and Nintendo DS, but it was always difficult to find an age-appropriate game that appealed to her. She did have a Dora the Explorer computer game she liked, but it was very repetitive and quickly grew boring for her. I wish they had the Dora Links Doll from Mattel when she was younger. The Dora Links Doll is part of the Dora Explorer Girls collection. The dolls connect with the computer while the girl plays in the online world of games and activities at www.DoraLinks.com. Adding accessories to your child’s collection will open up new play areas on the web site, and changes you make to your doll’s appearance online changes the appearance of your doll – for example, the length of Dora’s hair can change. Online play involves solving mysteries and becoming involved in community improvement activities. The dolls will alert your daughter to new activities on the web site. Dora’s friends are well-rounded girls – a math/science whiz, an athlete, a voracious reader, and a musician. The Dora Links Doll is about $40 at Amazon. Accessories and other dolls seem to range in price, from about $8 to about $30.

oh no… not another ‘computer linked-buy more stuff from us’ toy.
we have about 2,000 Webkins that our kid outgrew too fast, and about 5,000 other ‘internet/interactive/go on our website’ toys that she only cared for no more than a week. but they were darn costly.

the lowest thing toy manufacturers are doing now is pressing children’s buttons. children in turn coax their parents into buying more and more useless junk, all while pretending to ‘teach your kid technology and stuff.’

where’s a good paper book, or a ball to play with in the backyard? I’m sorry but I ain’t gonna destroy my kid’s eyes with a PC screen – she’ll get enough computer time working a boring job in her future corporate career, like the vast majority of us.

We got one for our daughter. Real difficult to set up. We had to download the new version of the software (twice) and reference some forums to set it up. Not easy. She does love it now that it’s set up, but still not as easy as it could have been.